W HEN NOT DISREGARDED as an inferior play or the product of a waning talent, t Aristophanes' p/utus is set off against his surviving fifth-century plays and viewed as a comedy from a different era. It lacks a formal parabasis, that earmark of Old Comedy, and the role of the chorus is minimal, all but reduced to dancing interludes. Further, it contains very little by way of breaks of dramatic illusion, topical references, or invective against individuals. The poet's last extant play is thus seen as the first specimen of that grey area, Middle Comedy, or even as a forerunner of many themes in New Comedy. Although comparison need not be disparaging, it tends to cast a heavy shadow on the play.2 Recent studies have, it is true, set the stage for a re-evaluation of the comedy by stressing how it actively responds to the social and economic developments in the first decades of the fourth century.3 Even so, the prevailing tendency is still to look back to the fifth-century plays, to


We study the shadow produced by a class of rotating black holes surrounded by plasma. The metric for these black holes arises by applying the Newman-Janis algorithm to a family of spherically symmetric spacetimes, which includes several well known geometries as special cases. We derive a general expression for the shape of the shadow in the case that the plasma frequency leads to a separable Hamilton-Jacobi equation for light. We present two examples in which we obtain the shadow contours and the observables resulting from them. In one, we analyze Kerr-Newman-like geometries, including braneworld and Horndeski gravity black holes, while in the other, we consider scalar-tensor 4D Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity spacetimes. In both cases, we find that the presence of plasma leads to a smaller and less deformed shadow.


The 2016 Unidroit Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) were the first instrument that explicitly regulated long-term contracts in international commerce. Its main goal was to actualize uniform contract law for the emerging needs of international commerce. Despite this effort, scholars have briefly researched how uniform contract law instruments address international commerce as an economic reality or whether the PICC's attempt is adequate. The gap in uniform contract law's—particularly the PICC's—literature on long-term contracts is odd compared to the completeness of economic literature on the matter. After revealing the pitfalls of the PICC's regulation, demonstrating the convenience of a thorough review of the economics of long-term contracts, this article elaborates on the necessary character of the connection between uniform contract law and economics. It further reviews the economic research on the factors that prompt long-term contracting and the mechanisms that economic agents designed to address their needs. The overhaul reveals that two paradigmatic economic structures—competitive and cooperative—generally determine the design of long-term contracts. Finally, the article addresses the consequences of including the paradigmatic economic structures of long-term contracts in the PICC rules on contract interpretation and gap-filling.


Truffle-shaped Cu nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by photoreduction of copper acetate solution in the presence of TiO2. X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that the obtained NPs were composed of pure Cu without oxides, which was notable because the photoirradiation was performed under atmospheric conditions, where the Cu NPs are easily oxidized. The Cu NPs were dispersed stably without protectants because the TiO2 NPs adsorbed on the Cu NPs were dispersed, probably due to their electric repulsion.


When the International Microwave Symposium (IMS) returns to Boston in June 2009, newcomers and those who have been here before will have a wonderful opportunity to see and do things in and around the city and enjoy what New England offers. You'll discover that once you are here, getting out and around to enjoy the sights, the tastes, and the activities is easy. Most places are a short walk or a subway ride way. Let me begin my tour with Boston.


The catalyst composition has the formula of AaBbCcDdIneGajBigMoiOx, where A is Ag, Cu, alkali or alkaline earth metal; B in Ni, Co, Fe, Cr, Ru, Pd or Mn; C is Zn, Cd, Ce, Sn, P, Sb, Pb, Te, Ge or Al; D is Ti, Zr, Va, Nb, Ta, La, Nd, Gd or W; a˜i are the number of moles of each composition and a is 0-10, b is 0-5, c is 0-15, d is 0-14, e is 0-2, f is 0-7, g is 1-25, i is 12-40 and the sum of a to g is 12-40. The composition is used in manufacturing unsaturated nitrite compounds by ammoxidation of paraffin hydrocarbons, and have high selectivity and activity.


This work proposes a novel system to aid in communicating with those having vocal and hearing disabilities. However, certain people with special needs are unable to communicate their feelings due to mutism. They learn sign language as a means of communicating because it is more convenient for them. What if a deaf person is trying to communicate with someone who doesn't understand sign languages?The majority of people on the planet are unable to comprehend sign language. The Techno-ARM enters the picture at this stage. A Techno-ARM, which is essentially a pair of gloves with sensors, is required for the individual who is unable to speak. By wearing these gloves, a person's gestures are translated to text depending on the preferences of the audience with whom they are conversing. They also use computer vision to assist in the conversion of American Sign Language (ASL) into text and speech. The message for the mute person's sign language will be shown by an application. Additionally, voice is used to read the text shown to the listener aloud. It is much easier for mute people to converse naturally in the world with the general public with these pair of Techno-Arms and the use of Computer Vision.


s of First National Congress of Medical Informatics, Mashhad, Iran, February 2017 © 2017 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercialNoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Page 192 CYSTIC FIBROSIS PATIENT REGISTRY TO ASSESS OUTCOMES AND IMPROVE CYSTIC FIBROSIS CARE IN IRAN Mandana Rafeey1, Leila R Kalankesh2, Saeed Dastgiri3, Leila Vahedi1, Narmin Rasouli1 1: Liver & Gastrointestinal Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences 2: School of Management and Medical Informatics, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences 3: Health Services Management Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences TYPE OF ARTICLE: CONFERENCE ABSTRACT ABSTRACT Introduction: Cystic fibrosis (CF) patient registries have become an important epidemiological tool for demography, networking, and quality management. This review describes recent developments in patient registries, outcome research, and pilot projects in quality improvement. Methods: At Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in northwest Iran, CF registry efforts have been producing consolidated data. Classical outcome indicators describing nutritional status and lung function are now being used in a more precise way, based on body mass index percentiles and longitudinal data. Electronic documentation of each patient's visits was based entirely on the CFQA software system. participants were required to complete the data before the evaluation was carried out. The project collected variables included age, sex, respiratory function, weight, height, presence/absence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Burkholderia cepacia and history of medical complications. For the purpose of the evaluation, written informed consent was obtained from the parents and/or patients. The project used the following indicators of quality: the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, weight for height (WH), BMI, FEV1, maximal expiratory forced flow 25% (MEF25) and the presence of massive complications (pneumothorax, severe hemoptysis, global pulmonary insufficiency, distal intestinal obstruction syndrome). Genetic analysis was done for each patient. Results: There were 85 (25.7%) deceased patients and 246 (74.3%) living patients at the time of the study. Of the 246 living CF patients, 202 (82.2%) were less than nine years of age, and 77 (90.6%) out of the 85 deceased CF patients had died younger than four years of age. There was a significant difference between outcome and location of residence. The risk of mortality was 50% less in urban patients than in rural patients (P = 0.03). The risk of mortality was approximately two times higher in patients with a positive family history than in those with a negative family history (P = 0.02). The proportion of mortality was approximately two times, or 94%, higher for those in a consanguineous marriage than for those in a non-consanguineous marriage (P = 0.01). Conclusion: Cystic fibrosis (CF) patient registries have become an important epidemiological tool for demography, networking, and quality management. This review describes recent developments in patient registries, outcome research, and pilot projects in quality improvement. CF provides a model of the link between healthcare delivery and outcomes in patients. CF registry data can be used to improve quality in CF healthcare. Quality improvement is a continuous endeavor involving the reinforcement of standards and programs as well as individual attitudes and soft skills. One particularly powerful technique is benchmarking, that is, learning from the best.


To determine Incremental Cost-Benefit Ratio (ICBR) of certain bio-pesticides and insecticide against 2nd larval instar of Helicoverpa armigera in chickpea, an experiment was conducted during winter 2011. Certain pesticides as sole treatments were tested with standard, low and high doses and in treatment combinations with one half of standard doses of two respective pesticides only once at 50% flowering and podding stage of the crop. Upon crop maturity; total grain yield, additional yield, increased income and net income were obtained for each respective treatment to determine its ICBR. Overall, the treatment combination of ½ Btk + ½ Azadirachtin had the highest ICBR of 1:27.57. The lowest ICBR of 1:5.25 was obtained with Azadirachtin-0.05 %, when other treatments had ICBR from 1:8.51 to 1:23.28.


The Cognitive GeoConcept was introduced as a method for finding geometrical associations between meaningful objects (links or f unctions) in web pages and it is supposed to elicit users' spatial schemata or repre s ntations underling the way people look for information within a web page. The procedure itself is based on the analysis of users' click responses to verbal labels indicating web objects on a large number of trials. In this study, ten words indicati ng links often found in the navigational menu of Italian academic web sites wer e used as stimuli, and eye movements were collected together with clicks. Resu lts showed that fixations were better suited to differentiate experts' patterns fr om novices'. Moreover, differential groupings were found depending on expertise. Partic ularly, experts organise the stimuli according to a prototypical interface deplo yment, whereas novices seem to organise stimuli according to personal criteria tha t get lost in the overall pattern. Overall, results confirmed the usefulness of the pr ocedure as a technique for eventually supporting information architects' decis ion .


2 Abstract: This study was done to investigate the role of human factors in forest fires occurrence. First, the actual fires map in District Three of Neka-Zalemroud forests-Iran was prepared from Nekachoob Corporation and it was digitized in GIS. Then villages, farmlands and forest roads maps were prepared by field operations using GPS and these data were digitized in the GIS. Then 200-meter buffers were created around forest roads and 1000-meter buffers were created around villages and farmlands. These buffer maps were classified based on research purpose. Then the actual fires map was overlapped on the villages, farmlands and forest roads buffer maps to investigate the accordance of the high-risk classes in these buffer maps with the actual fires. Results showed that the correlation of the actual fires with the high-risk classes of roads buffer, farmlands buffer and villages buffer maps are 0.7, 0.6 and 0.2 respectively. Thus forest roads have had the greatest impact on fire occurrence in District Three of Neka-Zalemroud forests. Results of this research will help to predict the fire risk in the District Three of Neka-Zalemroud forests because we can prevent the future fires occurrence using more cautions in areas with more roads and farmlands.


In China, the re-emerging pseudorabies virus (PRV) variant has caused large-scale outbreaks of pseudorabies in swine herds with classical PRV vaccine immunization since late 2011. Here, a recombinant PRV with TK/gI/gE/11k/28k deletion was constructed based on variant HN1201 strain isolated in 2012, by the bacterial artificial chromosome infectious clones. Compared with the parental virus, the recombinant PRV rHN1201TK−/gE−/gI−/11k−/28k− showed a similar virus grown curve and exhibited smaller plaques. The vaccination of rHN1201TK−/gE−/gI−/11k−/28k− could elicit an earlier and higher level of gB antibody, and the neutralizing antibodies elicited by rHN1201TK−/gE−/gI−/11k−/28k− were effective against both PRV classical and variant strains. Clinically, the body temperature of the pigs immunized with rHN1201TK−/gE−/gI−/11k−/28k− was significantly lower than that of the classical PRV vaccine immunized pigs, and the recombinant PRV could provide effective protection against the challenge with the PRV variant. These results imply that the rHN1201TK−/gE−/gI−/11k−/28k− could be a promising vaccine candidate for the prevention of the current epidemic of pseudorabies in China.


The paper addresses two aspects of leaving the parental home in the Netherlands: the timing of leaving home in the life course, and the outcome in terms of the first housing situation. We investigate to what extent the timing and the housing outcome are influenced by the child's and the parents' resources, and how they differ between spatial contexts and through time. Data are used from two retrospective surveys conducted in the beginning of the 1990s. In the analysis of the timing of leaving home, we make a distinction between the two competing risks of leaving to live alone and leaving to live with a partner. This distinction is particularly important for the Netherlands, where living without a partner has become much more common during the past few decades; it is now the most common pathway of starting a first household after leaving home. We also examine how the first housing situation depends on which of the two pathways out of the parental home is taken. We use discrete-time event history models for the analysis of timing, and multinomial logistic regression models for the analysis of the housing outcomes. The results confirm that there are major differences between leaving home to live alone and leaving to live with a partner. The single most important factor influencing leaving home to live alone is education; those with university education (including those still in university) are more than five times as likely to leave home to live alone in a given year than those with primary education. Other important factors include degree of urbanization and the child's and the parents' socio-economic status. The likelihood of leaving home to live with a partner, in contrast, is negatively associated with level of education. It is hardly influenced by parental resources, but the child's own socio-economic status and employment are important. The first housing situation of the nest leavers is strongly associated with the route they take out of the parental home. Compared with renting an independent dwelling, those starting without a partner are much more likely to start in shared or student accommodation and much less likely to immediately become home-owners. Shared accommodation, furthermore, is predominantly found among those still in education or otherwise not employed; and the younger nest leavers. The likelihood of starting as a home-owner increases with age and decreases with degree of urbanization. Surprisingly, no evidence is found for an influence of the child's socio-economic status on the first housing situation. Furthermore, hardly any influence of parental resources on the child's first housing situation is found.


Macedonian society was traditionally an area where Sufi movements were practicing their religious activities. As a result, it is a specific cultural area that has its influence in creating Sufism as a dominant religion within Ottoman Empire. Minding that historical circumstances, and also considering the area placed at the center of Balkan Peninsula, it has the qualities of multicultural characteristics that originates from centuries back due to the history of the area. In September 2017, a survey was conducted with the main goal of detecting and realizing the possible integrative traits and positive multicultural dimension of Sufism.


The morphological characters of   Satureja L.  species which is grown in Iraq were studied in detail ,starting from root,stem,leaves ,inflorescences ,flowers and fruits .The current study revelid that the characters of calyx and corolla have great important taxonomically ,besides the variations in the shape and size of leaves and bract ,figures were drawen  ,schedules and plates have been prepared.The indumentums study showed  that the trichomes have important taxonomically value of both glandular and eglandular hairs.


In innovative industrial processes such as hydroforming or incremental forming, strain rates up to 500s-1 can be reached. As a result, experimental setups allowing to obtain large deformations from static to intermediate strain rate levels have to be developed to predict the formability limits of sheet metal materials. The proposed experimental device is a servo-hydraulic testing machine provided with four independent dynamic actuators allowing biaxial tensile tests on cruciform specimen. The main difficulty to define an appropriate cruciform specimen shape is to force the onset of necking in the central region. In this paper, different specimens used in previous studies are numerically investigated through FE simulations. A modified cruciform specimen shape is then proposed and the best set of geometrical dimensions is defined from a parametric study. Finally, the efficiency of the proposed specimen shape is validated by experiments. Numerical and experimental results, i.e., the strain level in the specimen and the onset of necking are compared and discussed to boundary conditions corresponding to an equi-biaxial tensile test.


The involvement of animals in aspects of social work assessments and interventions has been touted as a positive development. Yet, little attention has been given to the potential for animal involvement in social work education and training. This practice reflection describes social work student placements at The Nelson ARK, where Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) is employed in programmes for youth. Social work placement coordinator, Letitia, and The Nelson ARK manager, Karen, provide the background to this initiative, while students, Tessa and Brooke, share a snapshot of their placement experiences that highlight a fresh appreciation of human–animal relations. From our collective experiences, the authors propose that field education in services that provide AAI affords novel and valuable learning for social work students.


The article showcases key reasons for functional disorders of the intestinal tract in breast-fed and formula-fed infants. It describes from a practical standpoint modern approaches to identifying causes and administration of remedial treatment for this category of patients. The main aspects in prevention of this functional pathology are characterised. Key words: children, functional defecation disorders, constipation, remedial treatment. (Pediatric Pharmacology. – 2010; 7(2):91-95)


This paper proposes an algorithm(system) to automatically mark and create a data set of Mars craters for deep learning based on the existing coordinate information. The main purpose of this automatic processing system is to solve the error problem and low efficiency caused by manual marking. To make such system, we need to know something about planetary science, such as the way to get a full view of a planet, the differences between DEM (Digital Elevation Model) image and TIR (Thermal Infrared image) and the way maps are projected.In this paper, the crater is used as the detection feature, I chose Mars DEM image as basic dataset to develop this system, and used YOLOv5 model to test the dataset, the results show that this system can quickly and successfully produce the crater data set that can be used for the training and detection of neural network object detection. Then Mars Thermal Infrared Image was used to expand my system. It also can create dataset that can be used for object detection model but haven't been proved by any object detection model yet. In this report, the details of how to achieve automatically generating training datasets and some essential problems will be introduced.


Our bodies are archives of sensory knowledge that shape how we understand the world. If our environment changes at an unsettling pace, how will we make sense of a world that is no longer familiar? One of Canada's premier historians tackles this question by exploring situations in the recent past where state-driven megaprojects and regulatory and technological changes forced ordinary people to cope with transformations that were so radical that they no longer recognized their home and workplaces or, by implication, who they were. In concert with a ground-breaking, creative, and analytical website, megaprojects.uwo.ca, this timely study offers a prescient perspective on how humans make sense of a rapidly changing world.


This article is dedicated to Alisher Navoi's "History of the Prophet and the Ruler", which depicts the faith, patience and high qualities of the prophets in art. The article analyzes and interprets universal values, issues of faith, issues of good and evil, as well as the narration of the history of the prophets -the continents of the byte, rubai andfour verses at the end of these stories. The work "History of the Prophet and the Ruler" shows that the flower of literature is a masterpiece of spirituality and art


Thermal treatment method for a micromechanical horological component derived from the LIGA method and exhibiting very low thermal inertia, said method including the step which consists in locally heating one area of the micromechanical horological component to increase hardness by local phase modification, the component being heated for a sufficiently short time that only the locally heated area is affected by the thermal treatment, the phase of the untreated portions of the component remaining unchanged.


In this letter we propose rate variable turbo codes based on the parallel concatenation of tailbiting recursive systematic multibinary (m-ary) convolutional codes. Rate variability is not achieved by puncturing, which can have adverse effects on the minimum distance of the code. Using a variable number of input lines of the encoder, we obtain several different overall rates ranging from 1/2 to 7/8. The most suitable soft-in- soft-out decoding algorithm for these turbo codes is based on the dual reciprocal code, which is very efficient for high rate codes. A particular interleaver design, namely the "backbone" interleaver, guarantees a high hamming weight in codewords with information weight 2 and 3, as well as good minimum distances and fairly low multiplicities for higher information weights. Therefore, these codes have very low error floors.


The Center on Enhancing Early Learning Outcomes partnered with the New Jersey Department of Education from 2013 to 2017 to implement a peer learning community in selected districts. The goal of the PLC was to support effective implementation of key early childhood policies and improve the quality of instruction preschool through grade 3. This report describes the rationale and theory of change, identifies the impact on the SEA and LEAs, lessons learned, and concludes with next steps for the SEA.


The Ma 46 well block in the Santanghu oilfield has poor reservoir property,high oil viscosity and low natural energy.CO2 huff and puff has been studied in order to obtain effective productivity.The research involves feasibility study and parameter optimization of CO2 huff and puff for this reservoir through performing CO2 injection experiment in conjunction with numerical simulation.The field test and follow-up assessment of CO2 huff and puff has shown good result in the Ma 46 well block.


We propose a credit-based resource allocation technique for dynamic spectrum access that is robust against malicious and selfish behaviors and ensures good overall system fairness performance while also allowing spectrum users to achieve high amounts of service. We also propose a new objective function that, when combined with the proposed credit-based technique, leads to further improvements of the system fairness performance. Our proposed techniques overcome user misbehavior by masking the impact of the users' pursued private objectives on the overall system performance. They also improve fairness among users by allocating service to users adaptively by accounting for how much service each user has received in the past. Our simulation results show that our proposed techniques maintain high system performance by allowing users to achieve high amounts of service and by ensuring fair allocation of spectrum resources among users even in the presence of misbehaved users. Using simulations, we also show that these high performances are also achievable under various different network scenarios.


The problems resulting from the failure of the market system to ensure that decision makers take account of the full social costs and benefits of environmental usage are considered. These include non-provision of environmental services such as landscape protection and recreation areas, resource over use and misuse, and environmental pollution. For each of these problems the economist's recommended solutions are discussed, and the social, economic, political and practical difficulties involved in implementing them are analysed. Finally, pollution control policies in Britain are outlined and compared to the recommended economically optimal practices.


To evaluate the effects of hypertension and T in the microcirculatory profile within autonomic areas, WKY and SHR were submitted to treadmill T (55% of maximum capacity, 1h/day, 5 d/week) or kept sedentary (S) for 3 months. After hemodynamic measurements at rest, rats were anesthetized for FITC‐dextran administration (1 ml of 5% solution). Brains were removed, post‐fixed and sliced (25 μm) for analysis of the capillary volume (Image ProPlus + 3D‐construction) within the NTS and hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). SHR vs. WKY exhibited elevated MAP and HR (180±2 mmHg, 359±6 b/min). Capillary volume (expressed as ×10−3μm3/μm3 tissue) was similar in WKY‐S and SHR‐S but differed between autonomic areas being larger into the PVN (ventromedial=14.15±1.27, posterior=6.72±0.56) and smaller into the NTS (2.51±0.14). T improved treadmill performance and resting bradycardia (−9%) in both groups; pressure fall (−8%) was only observed in the SHR. T caused marked increase in capillary volume in all autonomic areas (ventromedial: +91% and +74%; posterior: +20% and +21%; NTS: +41% and +27%, for WKY and SHR respectively). Contrary to the peripheral microcirculatory response, hypertensive brain capillaries showed no rarefaction within autonomic areas. Data also showed a large T‐induced capillary angiogenesis in both groups, therefore improving brain perfusion after training. Financial Support: CAPES, FAPESP


The Galician language functions as the main (or only) ethno-identitary element in the Galician cultural system, between the years 1968-1982, as well as nowadays. This paper aims to explain this identitary marker's position in the system and the function attached to it by the principal idea and opinion makers in the period previous to its institutionalization as (co-) oficial language by the Spanish Constitution in December 1978. The paper will also offer an introduction to the subsequent success or failure of strategies and language ideas supported by different movements in the pre-constitutional perioduntil the beginning of the 21 st century.


Teyou175 is a new thermosensitive hybrid rice combination with long growth duration. The total growth duration is 130 days in early cropping season and 118 days in late one, respectively. The combination characterized by vigorous root system, big panicle with more grains, strong tillering ability, high seed setting rate and lodging resistance. Culture of the combination in center and southern Guangxi yielded, on the average, 8175.5kg /hm 2 in early cropping and 6881.5kg/hm 2 in late cropping, respectively.


Abstract The defect chemistry of LiNbO3 has been studied by measurement of the equilibrium electrical conductivity as a function of temperature, oxygen activity, Li/Nb ratio, and impurity additions. Density changes indicate that Nb-excess defects result from both Li2O-deficiency and reduction. Oxygen vacancies are not a major defect in LiNbO3. Insensitivity to changes in Li/Nb ratio, and to additions of aliovalent impurities in amounts up to several percent, implies a very large degree of intrinsic ionic disorder. It is proposed that there is little energetic preference for the cation stacking sequences characteristic of the LiNbO3 and ilmenite structures and that this results in extensive cationic disorder.


Event detection (ED) aims at identifying event trigger words in a sentence and classifying event types. The quantity as well as quality of datasets hinder the event detection task severely due to the manual annotation is complex and expensive. To alleviate this problem, we present a data augmentation method based on generative adversarial network. In this adversarial learning mechanism, a generator is treated as a predictor of randomly selected event triggers, and the discriminator is to make guidance. Experimental results show that the model with generated data achieves competitive performance and further demonstrates the effectiveness of our proposed method.


There exist two conjectures for constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs) of reducts of finitely bounded homogeneous structures: the first one states that tractability of the CSP of such a structure is, when the structure is a model-complete core, equivalent to its polymorphism clone satisfying a certain non-trivial linear identity modulo outer embeddings. The second conjecture, challenging the approach via model-complete cores by reflections, states that tractability is equivalent to the linear identities (without outer embeddings) satisfied by its polymorphisms clone, together with the natural uniformity on it, being non-trivial.


The purpose of this paper is to prove the weak convergence theorem of the MANN iteration sequence to a fixed point for a strict pseudo-contraction in lp space.


High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Rabbit is a high-speed stream cipher first presented in February 2003 at the 10th FSE workshop. In May 2005, it was submitted to the eSTREAM project of the ECRYPT network. Rabbit was designed by Martin Boesgaard, Mette Vesterager, Thomas Pedersen, Jesper Christiansen and Ove Scavenius. Rabbit uses a 128-bit key and a 64-bit initialization vector. The cipher was designed with high performance in software in mind, where fully optimized implementations achieve an encryption speed of up to 3.7 CPB on a Pentium 3, and of 9.7 CPB on an ARM7. However, the cipher also turns out to be very fast and compact in hardware.


The use of IGBT high power switches in the power converter device and DC speed system are introduced.The basic requirements for IGBT driving are described.The structure of the EXB841 chip is introduced and analyzed.


The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the self-efficacy and self-directed learning ability in high school students. The subjects of this study consisted of 127 high school students. The data were analyzed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlations by using the SPSS 20.0 statistical program. The results of this study were as followed: First, there were significant correlations between self-efficacy and self-directed learning ability. Second, there were significant correlations among the all sub factors of self-directed learning ability and total score of self-efficacy. Third, there were significant correlations among the all sub factors of self-efficacy and total score of self-directed learning ability. In addition, there was negative correlation between confidence and self-directed learning ability. The results suggest that the self-efficacy of high school students are related to their self-directed learning ability and also have influence on their self-directed learning ability. Thus, in order to help improve the self-directed learning ability of high school students, it is necessary to support their self-efficacy in their school life


The present invention, a nuclear power plant a variable speed reduction gear which can secure a sufficient count rate in the start area, and dividing the moderator to start region and the output region to control the fission implications sensitivity optimal design for each of the variable during the start-up region and the output region It provides. The present invention to achieve this, but by dividing the moderator in the start area and the output area, the optimum design to each variable during the start-up region and the output region, the start area using a moderator to the optimum moderator thickness for the activation domain, and the output and by using a simple drive device at the time of switching to the region so as to change the thickness of the optimum moderator requiring a moderator thickness of the support tube by turning the instrument on the output area.


Ink dispersion system consists of pigment particles,vehicles and additives mixed by grinding.It has an extremely complicated rheological performance.The viscosity of ink dispersion system is related to some factors such as the density and the dispersion state of pigment particles and the shear rate.Based on experiments,the mathematical model of the relation among viscosity of ink dispersion system,volume density of pigment particles and the shear rate was established through the analysis of experimental data,the substitution of appropriate variables,and the use of nonlinear polynomial regression approach.Mathematical property of the model was consistent with the rheology characteristics and Casson equation.The viscosity curve of model fitted well with the experimental results.


Corn plants are very well known by the people of Indonesia, even in some areas it is used as a staple food. One type of corn plants that people like is sweet corn. The aim of this study were to determine the income obtained by farmers in sweet corn farming. This research was conducted in Tani Aman Urban Village, Loa Janan Ilir Subcity, Samarinda City, with a total sample of 24 people. The data collected were primary and secondary data. The results of this study indicate that the amount of sweet corn farming income was IDR293,438,733.33 cropping season (cs)-1 with an average of IDR12,226,613.89 cs-1 respondent-1. The value of R/C ratio of 2.1 indicates that sweet corn farming is profitable to cultivate.


By using an unbiased quantum Monte Carlo method, we investigate the hard-core Bose-Hubbard model on a square lattice with anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction. To study the effect of the anisotropy, dipole moments are assumed to be polarized in the $y$ direction on the two-dimensional (2D) $xy$ plane. To perform efficient simulations of long-range interacting systems, we use the worm algorithm with an O(N) Monte Carlo method. We obtain the ground-state phase diagram that includes a superfluid phase and a striped solid phase at half-filling as two main phases. In addition to these two main phases, we find a small region where there are multi plateaus in the particle density for small hopping amplitudes. In this region, the number of plateaus increases as the system size increases. This indicates the appearance of numerous competing ground states due to frustrated interactions. In our simulations, we find no evidence of a supersolid phase.


Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is one of many experimental techniques that have been used for more than six decades to study the physical and chemical properties of liquid crystals (LCs). Liquid crystals consist of anisotropic soft matter that is intermediate between an isotropic liquid and a crystalline solid. These ubiquitous materials can be found in biology such as in membranes, in commercial products like soups and detergents, in display devices found in cell phones, television panels, and laptops and in industrial applications ranging from sensors and bio-robotic devices to molecular semiconductors. NMR has contributed very valuable information that is useful in all these fields. One of the characteristics of organic molecules forming LCs is their shape anisotropy, e.g.rod-like or disk-like. The shape anisotropy manifests itself in many ways, such as in dielectric and magnetic susceptibility anisotropy as well as in optical anisotropy. Technical applications of LCs in industry are one of the main driving forces for fundamental research of these materials. Since macroscopic physical properties of LCs and their anisotropies are closely governed by the orientational behavior of the molecules in the ordered mesophases, it is crucial to quantitatively determine liquid-crystal order parameters, for which NMR has played an important role. Of fundamental importance, the intrinsic anisotropic intermolecular potential between liquid-crystal molecules and/or between solvent LC and solute molecules can be gleaned from NMR spectroscopy. The behavior of LCs under external stimuli such as external electric/magnetic fields and/or anchoring interactions with surfaces is also crucial for proper LC applications. Besides directly studying these liquid-crystal materials, NMR of solutes dissolved in them is an invaluable tool for obtaining detailed information about various anisotropic nuclear spin interactions that are averaged to zero in the isotropic liquid, but remain in mesophases. Given the number of NMR active nuclei, the wealth of modern NMR pulse techniques and recent technical advances in NMR instrumentation, solid-state NMR has proven to be a valuable avenue for the investigation of orientational/positional order, molecular dynamics, chiral discrimination, mesomorphic phase structures and phase transitions in liquid crystals. This special volume aims to cover these topics. In fact it is a collection of articles that are written by experts to summarize recent advances in the field of NMR and in particular its applications to the liquid-crystal field. It is worth noting that since 2005, a group of NMR scientists has gathered every second year in a monastery in Tropea, Italy for a scientific conference entitled "NMR in Oriented Phases" to discuss how NMR can elucidate the physics and chemistry of liquid crystals. Many fruitful discussions during the free afternoons and collaborations among international participants have resulted from these meetings, including the idea of this special issue for Magnetic Resonance in Chemistry during an informal discussion over lunch at the last Tropea meeting. Most authors who have contributed original research, a review, a mini-review or a tutorial for this special issue are indeed past participants of the Tropea meeting(s). The diversity of subject matter (concerning solutes and/or LC solvents) should provide a tremendous source of information for readers, both un-initiated and seasoned, to the field of liquid crystals.


By researching present situation and the characteristics of postal service transportation system in our country,a optimized model for postal service transportation network was constructed.Grouping genetic algorithm was used in solving the model.A taboo thought was used in grouping genetic algorithm and a fitness function was defined for objective function.Then some examples show that this method has superiority.


The complexity and operational dynamics of modern space systems has dictated a need for computerized tools to assist in the analysis, planning, and control of space system operations. Three computer programs (ACTNET, TLGEN, and WICK 9) which have been applied successfully to these problems are discussed in this paper. ACTNET is a second generation discrete-event simulation system designed for the functional analysis of complex processes. It is applicable to systems which may be modeled as networks of activities that are constrained by precedence, logical conditions, and limited resources. ACTNET has been employed within the Nuclear Stage, Space Station, and Space Shuttle programs by MDAC-West. TLGEN is a computer program currently under development by MDAC-West for generating operational mission timelines. In its batch mode of operation, it is used for planning on-orbit operations. In its interactive (on-line) mode, it can support real-time control of on-orbit operations by mission control/ground system personnel. TLGEN is designed for scheduling detailed sequences of events subject to event duration time, execution time, priority, resource usage, and environmental constraints (ephemeris). Little theoretical progress on developing an optimal task scheduling method for processes with tasks constrained by precedence and multiple resources has been made. This is due primarily to the difficulty of the general scheduling problem. With the advent of low cost timesharing, a promising approach to this problem is incorporating man-in-the-loop as decision maker. WICK 9 is the latest version of an interactive scheduling system developed by MDAC-West. The application of WICK 9 to scheduling experiments within a ten year space station experimental program is presented. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The operation of modern space systems is characterized by complex interactions between numerous subsystems, system operators, and environmental elements (physical, political, and social). Therefore, development of effective space systems requires careful consideration of constrained system dynamics, along with its natural operational dynamics. The inherent dimensionality, nonlinearity, and stochastic characteristics associated with such problems has motivated the development computer aided analysis, planning, and control tools. A system may be thought of as an operator which transforms inputs into outputs. That is where S represents a system, [ ] is a set of elements, <•> represents an ordered pair of elements, X is an input vector (collection of inputs), and Y is an output vector (collection of outputs). The analysis problem involves finding Y, given that X and S are known or assumed. That is, analysis has as its goal the determination of a system's performance dynamics (measurement of outputs) as a function of inputs impressed on the system and the system's design. Analysis and design are often used synonomously. The distinction should be made clear. In contrast to analysis, the design (synthesis) problem involves finding S, given that X and Y are known or assumed. Thus, design has as its goal, finding a system which will transform required inputs into desired outputs. Due to the relative difficulty of the design process, an iterative analysis approach is often used. That is, the form of the system under design is assumed and analysis applied. If the resulting outputs Y are not sufficiently similar to the desired outputs (design requirements), the assumed design is modified and again analyzed. This process continues until Y is within specified limits off The planning problem consists of developing a course of action which will carry a system or process from some initial condition to some desired final condition (plan objectives). It is complicated by the fact that it requires the participation and coordination of many varied disciplines and organizations. It must consider and contend with uncertainty (planning involves predicting/forecasting future events), time constraints, task ordering requirements (precedence), and limited resources.


This article undertakes an examination of the media-sport production complex focusing on the interdependencies between sport, media and marketing organizations. The development of American football in European societies is considered and a more detailed study of its emergence in English society is outlined. This task is undertaken in the context of an appreciation of the commodification of sport and media production more generally.


Aiming at the problem of quality decrease in graduate students,a multi-dimensional and complementary training model was established. It mainly included three parts,namely setting up an enrollment programs based on diversification of students,organizing a tutor team composed of professor and technical director as well as general manager,and supplementing an education link of tracking training after graduation for graduate students. The education model has significance guiding meaning for reform of graduate students education model and quality improvement.


Risk communication is a specialist area of technical communication where the information content of the communication is broader than purely scientific. Organisations often see communication about risk issues as a process of the organisation providing information to its stakeholders – this is often viewed simply as an education process, with the (unstated) assumption that if they are 'educated' they will know better, and will align with the organisation's viewpoint. In practise this often leads to frustration (on both sides) and general distrust. Increasingly organisations are recognising two additional factors (a) that communication within the organisation is critical to assisting the organisation to understand its appetite for risk, and (b) that communication with external stakeholders is a learning process for the organisation, and can be used to develop an on-going relationship with the community of interest. Internal and external communication are closely linked and can support each other; where an organisation has strong internal communication processes supporting a recognised risk management culture then it will be more confident about using external risk communication as a means of supporting its objectives and helping the community to articulate its concerns.


Digital natives is an age group born into a digital world and who possesses little knowledge about a society without internet or social media. The increased usage of social media has made universities realize that an online social media presence is necessary to attract the attention of their digital native prospective students. Along with social media comes the necessity of create online engagement to interact with stakeholders. The main task for practitioners is to understand what impact digital communication has on the interaction and with stakeholders online. This study is investigating online public relations with emphasis on online engagement in the context of university recruitment. From a social constructivist perspective qualitative interviews have been made with both Swedish university communicators and Swedish upper-secondary school students in order to explain, contextualize and problematize how organisations work with digital communication on social media with an aim to create engagement and thereby build relations. The study settles in a discussion whether engagement is indispensable or not for social media employment.


Abstract : This case study is offered with the purpose of informing the initiation of regional collaborative efforts nationwide. This research effort examines a network of networks, called here a Preparedness Web, utilized to meet locally identified regional homeland security preparedness needs. How and why these networks were established is documented to allow other regions to draw parallels to their own situations. A measurement of the systems collaborative capacity is identified to validate the systems functionality. Recommendations are offered for other regions considering collaborative efforts based upon a retrospective examination of the system originators strategic intent. To the extent to which this effort can be used to illustrate successful collaboration, on a national basis, it presents a replicable ground up process designed to entice more agencies to undertake or enhance their own regional collaborative preparedness efforts.


Background. This study was performed to determine the frequency of a perioperative coagulopathy in patients undergoing primary cytoreduction for ovarian cancer or carcinoma of the peritoneum and to identify variables that might predict this phenomenon.


1 2 Retinal Ganglion Cell Adaptation to Small Luminance Fluctuations 3 4 Daniel K. Freeman, Gilberto Graña, Christopher L. Passaglia 5 6 1 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, 7 44 Cummington Street, Boston, MA 02215 8 9 10 11 Number of Figures: 7 12 Number of Tables: 0 13 Number of Pages: 24 14 15 Running Head: Retinal Ganglion Cell Adaptation 16 17 18 19 20 Correspondence should be addressed to: Christopher L. Passaglia, Department of Biomedical 21


We compare different treatments of the constraints in canon ical quantum gravity. The standard approach on the superspace of 3–geome tries treats the constraints as the sole carriers of the dynamic content of th e theory, thus rendering the traditional dynamic equations obsolete. Qua ntiz tion of the constraints in both the Dirac and ADM square root Hamiltonia n approach lead to the well known problems of the description of time evo luti n. These problems of time are both of interpretational and technical nature. In contrast, the so-called geometrodynamic quantization proced ure on the superspace of the true dynamic variables separates the issue of qu antization from enforcing the constraints. The resulting theory takes into account the states that are off shell with respect to the constraints, and thus a voids the problems of time. Here, we develop, for the first time, the geometrodyn amic quantization formalism in a general setting and show that it retain s ll essential features previously illustrated in the context of homogene ous cosmologies.


lipopolysaccharide challenge coli Escherichia finishing pigs fed increasing levels of sulfur amino acids with and without Whole body protein deposition and plasma amino acid profiles in growing and/or doi: 10.2527/jas.53821 2012, 90:362-365. J ANIM SCI http://www.journalofanimalscience.org/content/90/Supplement_4/362 the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on


Anxiety has been less extensively studied than depression in Parkinson's disease (PD). The DoPaMiP survey allowed assessing simultaneously anxiety and depressive symptoms in PD and comparing correlations of both symptoms with clinical and therapeutic features of the disease. Cross sectional survey conducted prospectively in 450 ambulatory nondemented PD patients and 98 patients with other disorders than PD. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), parkinsonism using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). Other clinical factors were measured using a structured standardized examination/questionnaire. The mean HADS‐A (anxiety) subscore was higher in PD patients than in the others (8.2 ± 3.9 vs. 6.5 ± 3.2, P < 10−4) as was the HADS‐D (depressive) subscore (6.6 ± 3.8 vs. 3.9 ± 3.2, P < 10−4). Patients with possible/probable anxious signs (HADS‐A ≥ 8) were more prevalent in PD (51% vs. 29%, P < 10−4) as were those with depressive symptoms (40% vs. 10%, P < 10−4). Conversely, anxiolytic and antidepressant medications consumption was not different between the 2 groups. Patients with anxious symptoms were more frequently female and younger than those without such symptoms, while those with depressive symptoms had more severe indices of parkinsonism, more comorbidities and lower cognitive function (Mini Mental State Exam). The logistic regression model revealed that patients with depressive symptoms received more frequently levodopa and less frequently a dopamine agonist. Anxiety and depressive symptoms were more frequent in PD patients than in medical control group. Both symptoms were commonly associated in the same PD patients, but were correlated with different clinical/therapeutic features, suggesting different underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. © 2009 Movement Disorder Society


The invention relates to a one-time dual-hole inward turning device. A mold locking mechanism comprises a left locked mold. A left locked mold inclined plane is machined on the left side inside the left locked mold. A left inner mold is machined on the other side inside the left locked mold. A left locked mold spring base for fixing a spring is machined at the lower portion of the left inner mold. A left locked mold sliding strip is machined in the middle of the left locked mold. A left locked mold right sliding block and a left locked mold left sliding block are machined on the two sides of the lower portion of the left locked mold. A spring base is machined on the inner side of the left locked mold right sliding block. A lower mold spring is installed on the spring base. The one-time dual-hole inward turning device has the beneficial effects that mold locking is convenient due to the combined movement of the left locked mold and the right locked mold; mold stripping is easy, and the working efficiency is greatly improved; due to the fact that a stamping straight wedge block and a stamping flat wedge block are symmetrically installed, one-time dual-hole inward turning can be completed through one-time stamping; the concentricity obtained after dual-hole inward turning is ensured; and multiple positions of the device are reset through the spring, and the automation degree of the device is high.


A string action is considered in four spacetime dimensions which is obtained by dimensionally reducing the ten dimensional effective action. The equations of motion admit string like solutions. The symmetry properties of the four dimensional action are discussed. It is shown that new background configurations can be generated by implementing suitable 0( d, d) transformations. Recently, considerable attention has been focussed in investigating the target space symmetries of string theory: notable among them being duality and noncompact global symmetries. The target space duality [ 1 ] is one of the important symmetries of string theory. If we consider a compactified string on a circle of radius R, the spectrum of the string remains invariant under the transformation R + A*/R (with A* = 2a'fL). The consequences of duality have been explored in various directions. The global O( d, d) symmetry of the string effective action, for the cosmological case, was discovered by Meissner and Veneziano [ 21 and it was shown subsequently how one can generate nontrivial cosmological geometries by applying these transformations [ 3,4]. Sen and his collaborators [ 51 extended these results to the case when the backgrounds are independent of d coordinates and generated new backgrounds by applying the 0( d, d) transformations. The dimensional reduction technique due to Scherk and Schwarz [ 61 was adopted by Schwarz and Maharana [7] to demonstrate the O(d, d) invariance of the effective action when d coordinates are toroidally compactified and the background fields are independent of these coordinates. There has been some progress, in the recent past, to understand the nonperturbative aspects of string theory. A clue is provided from the string/fivebrane duality conjecture [ 8,9]. In the critical, D = 10, dimension the strings (one dimensional objects) are dual to fivebranes, which are extended objects with five spatial dimensions. Considerable attention has been focussed on the study of D = 10 heterotic strings and the D = 10 fivebranes [9-l 31 and the latter is the dual counterpart of the former. Moreover, the strong/weak coupling duality was proposed [ 91 in analogy with the strong/weak coupling conjectured in super Yang-Mills theories [ 14,151. The strong/weak coupling duality can be viewed in the framework of Poincare duality, where it was shown that if the string coupling constant is given by exp( &,), the corresponding fivebrane coupling constant is exp( - h/3), where &, is the VEW of the dilaton. Thus, weak coupling in string theory corresponds to strong coupling in fivebrane and vice versa. It was pointed out by Strominger [ 91 that the fivebrane appears as a zerobrane, a onebrane, or a twobrane after toroidal ' Permanent address: Institute of Physics, Bhubuneswar 751005, India.


Ion cyclotron (IC) wave assisted breakdown has the potential to increase the robustness of plasma initiation during the ITER pre-fusion operation phase. Studies were performed at JET at ITER relevant loop electric field, Eloop≲0.33 Vm−1 , and a range of toroidal fields, including at the low toroidal field of 1.7T for which breakdown had not been achieved previously on JET. The study covered a range of H2 and D2 gas prefill pressures and timings, pumping conditions, and residual impurity levels. IC assisted breakdown was achieved for a lower and wider range of gas prefill pressures. IC assisted breakdown works by activating wall pumping before the current rise, changing the relation between fuelling and torus pressure in this phase compared to Ohmic breakdown. IC assisted breakdown enables plasma initiation with a higher level and significantly wider range of injected plasma prefill gas. As the injected prefill gas is the controlled parameter, this significantly improves the robustness of plasma initiation operationally. IC assistance is found to be more robust at ITER-like Eloop , succeeding with higher low-Z impurity content. Moreover, it does not introduce an impurity source that may hamper the subsequent burn though and current ramp-up phase. For both the IC assisted and pure Ohmic breakdown, the initial current rise rate is found to scale with ne/Eloop . The results and implications for ITER are presented.


Introduced the main achievements and detailed practice that LiuHe forestry industrial park construction has made,and then raised that forestry industrial park development should take high recommendation,typical driving,high quality service,policy support,supervision and assessment development mechanism.


Technological developments in recent years have led to changes in several fields. In this situation, a number of companies were forced to reorganise their strategies and use their skills to face the increasingly stronger competition. Studies conducted earlier in the literature have shown that organisations can succeed on the market if they are permanently preoccupied to improve its organisational structure, strategies, staff and processes. Strategic planning plays a very important role in companies, serving to improve processes carried out in enterprises. This paper aims to study how EU funds for tourism were allocated through the Regional Operational Programme in the development regions in the country and how strategic planning can be used in this area to facilitate absorption and to ensure that the results have a strong impact in the country.


Indonesian learning is the basis for other subject. Learning languange skills in elementary schools is very important. This is because elementary school student are the basis for instilling concepts including languange concepts.


This work shows the principal results obtained during the study of the grounds with partial saturation (when the water doesn't fill completely the pores inside the soil) through the software to the finite elements of modelling of the filtering processes, SEEP/W (Geo-Slope International LTD, 2004).


Background: The good clinical-functional outcomes of total knee arthroplasty (TKA) depend on several factors, such as the surgical time and the adequate positioning of the prosthesis components. The present study aims to evaluate whether the preservation of retropatellar fat pad during the surgical act influences the rotational alignment of the tibial component and the surgical time of the procedure.
Methods: The study was carried out with 50 patients operated on by the main author, who were randomly divided into two groups, experimental and control. For the evaluation of the positioning of the tibial component, the patients underwent computed tomography (CT) four weeks after the surgery, on average. Casuistry was determined by pilot study with the first five patients of each group. For the sample calculation, the t-student test was used for two independent samples.
Results: All patients presented internal rotation of the tibial component, with no statistical difference in mean rotation between the experimental and control groups. When there was complete detachment of the fat in the experimental group, the tibial component showed greater external rotation, with a statistical difference. Surgical time was shorter in the experimental group, varying in this group according to the degree of osteoarthrosis.
Conclusions: Maintenance of retropatellar fat pad did not influence the rotational alignment of the tibial component; however, in patients with advanced osteoarthrosis, such maintenance increases the surgical time.


This paper analyses a dynamic general equilibrium macro model where consumers are divided into workers and capitalists. Goods and money markets are assumed to be competitive, whereas the wage rate is determined by negotiation between a trade union and an employer's union. Unions know the structure of the economy and act to maximize member's utility. Two different limiting cases are investigated. In the first unions are "short sighted" caring about immediate utility consequences, in the second they are "long sighted" caring about utilities in stationary states. In both cases the solution concept used is cooperative, wages chosen by the unions should be undominated, i.e. there must not exist another wage rate leading to higher utility for both parties. The resulting equilibria are analyzed. In both cases results are that full employment equilibria always exist, and in some economies unemployment equilibria exist. Characterization results are given.


The modeling of agriculture movements in a region is typically included in metropolitan, statewide, or regional freight models developed for metropolitan or state transportation planning organizations. They are modeled without context to a specific food chain. If attempting to model security-related transportation issues, this resolution is not adequate to satisfactorily identify potential problems. A farm-to-fork multi-modal agricultural freight model that simulates trips between specific origins and destinations such as farms and processing facilities, processing facilities and wholesalers, and wholesale facilities and retail establishments, should result in a robust modeling process. The model can be employed to identify critical nodes in the network or run security-based scenarios for different food chains. Utilizing a combination of datasets, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is investigating such a model to conduct security-related analyses for different food chains as part of the National Infrastructure Simulation and Analysis Center (NISAC), funded by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In order to estimate freight trips for specific commodities, we propose to incorporate non-traditional sources of data with more typical transportation datasets.


The Spanish economy has been one of the EU's most affected by the Great Recession of 2008, recording a rate of unemployment of 26.2% in 2013. However, since 2014 Spain is growing faster than most Euro Area countries, reaching an annual growth rate over 3% during the period 2015- 2017. Moreover, it has turned its historical current account deficit, which peaked in 2007, into a surplus of 2 % of GDP in 2017. International and Spanish institutions, as well as some scholars, have rooted this readjustment of the current account in the "internal devaluation strategy". Consisting in the reduction of wages, this strategy is supposed to have boosted exports and therefore Spanish economic activity, through the reversion of the accumulated loss of price-competitiveness since the creation of the European Monetary Union. Nevertheless, empirical evidence shows that changes in demand (and some exceptional factors as the recent evolution of oil prices) are much more important to explain the evolution of Spanish net exports than changes in price competitiveness. Based on an extended version of the Bhaduri-Marglin model, which enables the disentangling of the price effect from the demand effect, this paper sheds light on the true influence of internal devaluation on the deficit correction occurred in the Spanish external sector. It reveals that wage restraint has meant only limited gains in price-competitiveness, having affected external balance mainly through a "demand effect" on imports, although to a limited extent. The estimations carried out show that the internal devaluation strategy readjusted the Spanish external sector by 1.74 p.p. during the period of 2010-2017. Of all this correction, 98% is induced by a change in the demand of the economy, and only 2% is due to the effect on prices. It makes also clear that although exports performance has been remarkable during last years in Spain, it does not differ much from the previous decade, and it cannot be explained by internal devaluation.


The significance of learning a foreign language is commonly accepted as a way to improve our lives. It is, however, a fact that today's young people live and learn in an open, internet-influenced, and diverse cultural environment, potentially leading to reduced language learning engagement, partly because learning a new language in the traditional manner appears to them as outdated. In the last decade, researchers, teachers, and IT experts, have been testing the technology of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in language teaching, in order to increase interest and effectiveness in foreign language learning. This article presents a brief review of the latest attempts of implementation of AI in second language learning. The various aspects of foreign language learning, as influenced by the integration of AI systems and implementations will be presented, highlighting the possibilities of AI in foreign language learning.


The versatile and laureate geologist Professor Andreas Hoppe (1948—), whose contributions range from Precambrian and Quaternary geology, through environmental geology to the geology of natural resources has now enlarged his range of interest to include the history of geology by publishing a wonderfully detailed biography of his former institute director Professor Max Pfannenstiel (1902-1976) in Freiburg im Breisgau. Just by looking at the full title of the book discloses a partial reason for publishing this biography: Unter und Oben — Max Pfannenstiel im 20. Jahrhundert — Katholik mit judischen Vorfahren, Geologe und Bibliothekar, im Exil und bei der Wehrmacht, Ordinarius and Rektor (=Below and Above — Max Pfannenstiel in the 20th century — Catholic with Jewish ancestors, geologist and librarian, in Exile and in the Wehrmacht1 , ordinarius2 and rector3 ).


Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a significant clinical challenge, and the mechanisms underlying HCC pathogenesis remain incompletely understood. Colon cancer associated transcript 1 (CCAT1), is one novel long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) which is upregulated in HCC. Autophagy is a vital process in HCC progression, and it is unknown whether CCAT1 regulates autophagy in HCC.


ABSTRACT A box trap was developed for effective collection of large predaceous diving beetles. The floating trap, which was fabricated from a plastic box with two funnel mouths equipped with mesh lids, can be opened only when beetles enter the trap. Considerable attention was paid to the trap's performance as it was quantitatively evaluated in laboratory conditions in detail using Cybister and Dytiscus diving beetles. Without the mesh lid on the trap mouth (negative control test), the number of beetles in the trap was the highest at 2–3 hours. However, most beetles escaped from the trap without a mesh lid within six hours of starting the experiment. When eight beetles were put into a trap without a mesh lid, all of them had escaped from it after eight hours. On the contrary, beetles did not escape from a trap with a mesh lid. This result and testing in the field suggest that trap lids have a significant role in averting the escape of beetles from the trap.


Chloroquine (7-chlor-4-(4-diaethyl-amino-l-methyl-butylamino)-chinolin) was synthesized about twenty years ago. It has been used for antimalarial purposes, but recently also for treatment of collagenous diseases, especially rheumatoid arthritis and disseminated lupus erythematosus. Besides its therapeutical action on the diseases mentioned, considerable side-effects have been observed, frequently also in the eyes. According to the literature, corneal changes have been observed in 33 to 7 7 per cent of the patients taking chloroquine (I., 5-9., 1 l . , 17.) whereas retinal changes are reported to be considerable less frequent (2.-4., 9., lo., 12.-16.). The changes observed in the cornea are in early stage punctate, later white or yellowish, striated or fan-shaped deposits generally appearing in the lower part of the cornea. They do not affect the visual acuity and usually disappear on termination of the treatment. The cases of retinopathy, on the other hand, have proved irreversible, and occur as a rule in association with decreased central visual acuity, and as central and peripheral changes in the visual field. Retinal oedema, and pigmentary disturbances in central or peripheral retina with attenuation of retinal arteries have been described. Most reports in the literature on eye complications caused by chloroquine include only a small total number of patients examined. Therefore, we have examined a large number of patients taking chloroquine and thus tried to get more information of the frequency of eye complications caused by this drug.


Gravitational waves from supermassive black hole binary mergers along with an electromagnetic counterpart has the potential to shed `light' on the nature of dark energy in the intermediate redshift regime. An accurate measurement of dark energy parameters at intermediate redshift is extremely essential to improve our understanding of dark energy, and to possibly resolve couple of tensions involving cosmological parameters. We present a Fisher matrix forecast analysis in the context of eLISA to predict the errors for three different cases: the non-interacting dark energy with constant and evolving equation of state (EoS), and interacting dark sectors with a generalized parametrization. In all three cases, we perform the analysis for two separate formalisms, namely, the standard EoS formalism and the model-independent null diagnostics using \textit{Om} parametrization for a wide range of fiducial values in both phantom and non-phantom regions, in order to make a comparative analysis between the prospects of these two diagnostics in eLISA. Our analysis reveals that it is wiser and more effective to probe null diagnostics instead of the standard EoS parameters for any possible signature of dark energy at intermediate redshift measurements like eLISA.


At present,the economic development of China is experiencing a new normal with changing economic growth,economic structure and driving force. Labor relations are more complex,especially in the frontier regions of reform such as Guangdong Province. The four main characteristics of labor dispute in Guangdong include that,firstly,the number of labor dispute is changing from surge into slow decline. Secondly,the causes of labor dispute are changing from right disputes into interest disputes. Thirdly,the approaches of labor dispute are changing from legal action into collective action. Finally,there are many differences in labor disputes in different regions,industries and enterprises.


Fission barrier parameter that obtained from the liquid drop model framework does not involve any optimal shapes that based on minimization of liquid drop energy at fixed volume and elongation. In this work, fission yield of 238U and 232Th have been calculated using TALYS nuclear reaction code by implementing fission barrier height that obtained from minimization of liquid drop energy without using any shape parameterization. Fission yield model that has been employed in this calculation was derived from multi modes of random neck rupture model (MM-RNRM) proposed by Brosa et. al. This model is based on Lawrence shapes of deformed nuclei at scission mechanism and has been integrated in TALYS code. The calculation results were compared with the fission yield from ENDF at 0.5 MeV, 10 MeV, and 14 MeV in both cases. The discrepancy between calculation results and ENDF data are probably due to invalid fission parameter that included in the input file.


We report a rare case of a complete common AV canal with unusual long survival in a 68 year-old-woman referred to our hospital with dyspnea and palpitation and with signs of moderate heart failure. INTRODUCTION The terms "endocardial cushion defect ", "atrioventricular septal defect ", "common AV septal defect " are interchangeable in describing defects in the formation of the AV valves, the anterior portion of the atrial septum and the posterior portion of the ventricular septum. Depending on the size of the ventricular septal communication and the competence of the AV valve or AV valves, patients with AV canal defects may become symptomatic early in life or may remain relatively asymptomatic until young adulthood. Much has been accomplished in the treatment of patients with atrioventricular septal defect, reflecting our increased knowledge of anatomy, clinical predisposition to early pulmonary vascular damage, the character of the specialized conduction tissue and appreciation of those particular anatomic risk factors in patients with these heterogeneous malformations. How we have improved on the natural history of this disorder considering that only 54% of patients with the complete form of atrioventricular septal defect were predicted to survive to 6 months of age and 15% were predicted to survive to 2 years without medical and surgical intervention. We report a case of complete common atrioventricular canal with unusual longevity. CASE REPORT A 68-year-old-woman presented with signs of moderate congestive heart failure. Since childhood, she suffered from dyspnea and cyanosis. The physical examination showed a splitting of a second cardiac sound and a 3/6 L systolic murmur. The electrocardiogram demonstrated a first degree atrioventricular block with complete right bundle branch block and left anterior hemiblock. The thoracic roentgenograms ( Fig 1 ) revealed an enlarged main pulmonary arterial segment and an increased vasculature. Transthoracic echocardiography (Fig 2 and Fig 3) showed a common atrioventricular canal of a complete type. This condition is commonly associated with death in infancy and in only exceptional cases the patient survives to the adult life. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case in a patient older than 50 years of age. Figure 1 Fig 1: thoracic roentgenograms Complete common atrioventricular canal with unusual longevity. A case report 2 of 3 Figure 2 Fig 2 : Transthoracic echocardiography Figure 3 Fig 3: Transthoracic echocardiography References 1. Tardon R, Moller j, Edwards J. Unusual longevity in persistent common atrioventricular canal. Circulation 1974; 50: 619 2. Berger TJ, Blackstone EH, Kirlin JW, Bargeron LM, Hazerling JB, Turner ME. Survival and probability of cure without and with operation in complete atrioventricular canal. Ann Thorac Surg 1979; 27: 104-11 3. Kumar SR, Javid M, Misra KP, Kumar MV. Complete common AV canal with long survival. Indian Heart Journal 1997: 49(4): 421-422. Complete common atrioventricular canal with unusual longevity. A case report 3 of 3 Author Information Italo De Tommaso Dipartimento di Cardiologia-Azienda Ospedaliera San CarloPotenza-Italia Agostino Lopizzo Dipartimento di Cardiologia-Azienda Ospedaliera San CarloPotenza-Italia Antonio Lopizzo Dipartimento di Cardiologia-Azienda Ospedaliera San CarloPotenza-Italia


Schwachman-Diamond syndrome is a disease characterized by exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, hematological disorders, growth retardation and bone abnormalities. The disease is caused by mutations in the SBDS gene. Early diagnosis and timely start of comprehensive treatment, including clinical nutrition, appointment of enzyme preparations and granulocyte colony stimulating factor, improve the quality of life and prognosis of these patients. The article describes the clinical observation of the Schwachman-Diamond syndrome's family case.


This project was completed to support the development of a guidance note for the disposition of welds interacting with pipe wall mechanical damage (dents, wrinkles, and ovality) and thus allow a more rational treatment of these forms of damage. The intent is not to evaluate the life of welds interacting with dents wrinkles and ovality, but rather to identify when the interaction is significant and needs to be considered explicitly. Based upon the criteria developed in this project, inspection results that indicate the presence of pipe wall deformation in the vicinity of a girth weld or long seam weld can be used to assess if the interaction is significant and must be treated as a repairable defect. This project report includes a discussion of the following work:

� Development of criteria for weld interaction with restrained rock dents, pipe ovality, and wrinkles;

� Development of a means of considering pressure fluctuation severity in these criteria, and

� Development of guidance and recommendations on how to consider the effects of soil confinement. The criteria do not predict the actual life of a mechanical damage feature, but instead, present a means of defining the interaction distance between a damage feature and a weld. The processes have been established based on numerical modeling results with a detailed consideration of the effects of both physical and numerical variables. Due to the virtually limitless combination of weld seam geometries, weld quality, and residual stress fields, these parameters were not explicitly included in the numerical models. Instead, potential weld quality issues and residual stresses are addressed using an appropriate and conservative fatigue design curve while the weld geometry effects have been included with the selection of a stress concentration factor applied to the numerical modeling results.


This article is concerned in the first place with the short-time observability constant of the heat equation from a subdomain $\omega$ of a bounded domain $M$. The constant is of the form $e^{\frac{K}{T}}$, where $K$ depends only on the geometry of $M$ and $\omega$. Luc Miller (JDE, 2004) conjectured that $K$ is (universally) proportional to the square of the maximal distance from $\omega$ to a point of $M$. We show in particular geometries that $K$ may blow up like $|\log(r)|^2$ when $\omega$ is a ball of radius $r$, hence disproving the conjecture. We then prove in the general case the associated upper bound on this blowup. We also show that the conjecture is true for positive solutions of the heat equation.
The proofs rely on the study of the maximal vanishing rate of (sums of) eigenfunctions. They also yield lower and upper bounds for other geometric constants appearing as tunneling constants or approximate control costs.
As an intermediate step in the proofs, we provide a uniform Carleman estimate for Lipschitz metrics. The latter also implies uniform spectral inequalities and observability estimates for the heat equation in a bounded class of Lipschitz metrics, which are of independent interest.


Florian Wendt * ID , Franz Zotter ID , Matthias Frank and Robert Höldrich School of Institute of Electronic Music and Acoustics, University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, Inffeldgasse 10/III, 8010 Graz, Austria; email@example.com (F.Z.); email@example.com (M.F.); email@example.com (R.H.) * Correspondence: firstname.lastname@example.com; Tel.: +43-316-389-3520 Received: 10 November 2017; Accepted: 10 November 2017; Published: 15 November 2017


Abstract The goal this research is to find the effectiveness of model guidance and counseling comprehensive program to develop the personality/ social competency of secondary high school students. This research uses method one group pretest and posttest design. In data collecting technique, this research was directly done through interview, documentation and assessment scale . The conclusions of the research are, The model of guidance and counseling comprehensive program that developed is effective to evolving the personality/ social competency of secondary high school students . Therefore it, counselor need to have leadership ability, create an collaboration atmosphere between stakeholders , and tecnology information mastered. Keywords : Comprehensive Program ; Personality/ Social Competency


ND-MEL and LM-MEL exhibited a desmutagenic activity of 25-75% against mutagenic aromatic or heterocyclic compounds such as aflatoxin Bi, B[ct]P, 2-aminofluorene, 4-aminobiphenyl, and 2-aminonaphthalene, as well as heterocyclic amines, using S. mphimurium TA98 in the presence of S9 mix. In the case of using S. mphimurium TAIOO in the absence of S9 mix, ND-MEL and LM-MEL showed a desmutagenic actiyity of 20-50% against 2-nitrofluorene, 4NQO and 2-nitronaphthalene. The strong desmutagenic activity of MEL from various kinds of amino acids, peptides, or egg albumin hydrolyzates with glucose was also obseryed against Trp-P-1. Furthermore, MEL had marked desmutagenic activity against the Trp-P-1 actiyated by S9 mix and synthetic N-OH-Trp-P-2.


Composite patches bonded to defective metallic aircraft structures have been shown to be a highly cost effective method for extending the service life and maintaining high structural efficiency Tensile and fatigue studies were conducted on 7075 T6 Al substrates with and without bonded boron/epoxy patches The experimental results show that both static strength and fatigue life of the repaired aluminum substrates are significantly increased for the bonded composite patches A considerable decrease in the fatigue crack rate and a beyond 10 times increase in the fatigue life are observed as the number of patch plies increased A simple analytical model, based on Rose′s analytical solution, is developed to predict fatigue behavior of the repaired plates The simple model shows good quantitative agreement with experimental data


1 Department of Medical Genetics, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, China 2 National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Birth Defects Research, Prevention and Treatment, Hunan Provincial Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Changsha, China 3 Department of School of Life Sciences, Central South University, Changsha, China 4 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Hunan Province, Changsha, China


Mots-clés : Solidification Modélisation Structure Ségrégation Alliages métalliques Modeling of solidification for applications to processing of metallic alloys is often restricted to microsegregation (segregation of chemical species taking place between dendrite arms) with the objective to predict the phase fractions in the as-cast state. This approach can be entirely conducted based on thermodynamic equilibrium. It can also include limited diffusion of the chemical species, in which case length scales such as the dendrite arm spacing or the grain size are required. Another approach is to model the kinetics and shape of a solid–liquid interface. While this approach gives a direct and complete description of the structure and segregation, it is limited to extremely small domains due to the heavy computational resources required, with no hope to reach applications up to the casting scale. New developments over the last decade have permitted to combine the description of microsegregation with a direct modeling approach of grain structure and macrosegregation (deviation of the alloy composition within the cast part). Such developments are illustrated, together with perspectives expected to take place in the near future. © 2010 Académie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.


It has been a privilege to work and learn with you through the Leadership for Social Justice Institutes. We trust that you will continue learning from each other and building the networks and demonstrate great leadership for social justice in your home countries and regions and on the global stage. iii Acknowledgements The Ford Foundation International Fellowships Program, and the leaders of the Ford Foundation who had the vision and courage to create such an innovative (and enormous) program, made possible the Leadership for Social Justice Institutes and thus this manual. Special thanks to While Joyce was director for Africa and the Middle East, she also served as IFP's liaison to the LSJ initiatives; her dedication, support and direct contributions far exceeded whatever that title might suggest. Ashok, as the first liaison, laid the foundation for all that followed. A number of leaders from IFP partner institutions – including CIESAS in Mexico and ASF in Thailand – made significant contributions to several of the institutes upon which the manual is based. The Advocacy Institute was the lead partner for the first several years of the Leadership for Social Justice Institutes and directly involved through most. Special thanks to David Cohen, Nader Tadros, Kathleen Sheekey, Kay Arndorfer and other institute trainers. They all served as facilitators for multiple institutes – David and Nader for nearly all; Kay as the lead facilitator during the first years. David, a co-founder of the Advocacy Institute, provided particularly valuable conceptual and strategic leadership over the entire LSJ period. Many of the ideas and resources in this manual can be directly traced to their contributions. Over 30 IFP Fellows and Alumni were selected to serve as co-facilitators, with roles becoming more central as the program evolved. We thank them for their ideas and other contributions, many of which are reflected in this manual. We also thank them, other Fellows, and several members of the larger IFP community for many of the photographs that illustrate the manual. SIT colleagues were of course central to the development and implementation of every dimension of the Leadership for Social Justice initiative. We would like to thank the program staff, particularly Squeak Stone and Bernice Singley, who worked tirelessly before, during and after the institutes to ensure that all logistical details were covered. Thanks to Chris Watson for his patience and productivity in coordinating and compiling the various modules, the annotated …


transcordanse # 1 is designed both as a performative scenic space for a dance performance and as an independent interactive installation. This aristic project is an interactive timeSpace in dialogue with the public, a kinesthetic, sonorous and visual environment.
 To interact with this timeSpace, visitors and performers are invited to move within interactive cords, where looking and hearing are linked to movement. Thus, relationships will be established between the body and its environment: visual and sonorous superpostions and juxtapositions of the bodies, the bodies of the spectateurs and the bodies of the performers.
 Generated by multilinear experiences and possible transitory trajectories, a choreography of bodies and information/data will emerge, an «info-choreography» between projected bodies, real bodies and virtual bodies in this setting [dispositif].


In this work, we propose an unsupervised Bayesian model for the detection of moving objects from dynamic scenes. This unsupervised solution is a three-step approach that uses a statistical model of an interframe gradient norm field (as likelihood model) with a local regularization term (as prior model) combined with strong intraframe spatial constraints. In the first step, the spatial constraints are estimated by making an unsupervised Markovian spatial over-segmentation of two input frames. In the second step, the interframe gradient (derived from the input frames) is restored to minimize undesired noise. In the last step, an unsupervised Markovian temporal segmentation (with global spatial constraints) is performed to generate the desired motion label field. The maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation of the label field associated with the spatial segmentations (in the first step) and the motion label field (in the third step) is performed by a classical Iterative Conditional Mode (ICM) algorithm. An Iterative Conditional Estimation (ICE) procedure is exploited for estimating the parameters of the spatial model and the region-constrained temporal model. This new statistical method of motion detection has been successfully applied to real dynamic scenes and seems to be well suited for the temporal detection of noisy image sequences.


According to the World Health Organization, cataract operations are performed on one million people per year [1]. After cataract surgery, however, most patients still experience physiologically severe postoperative ocular inflammation. Uncontrolled intraocular inflammation causes discomfort, delayed recovery, poor visual results, and even more severe problems such as cystoid macular oedema and synechiae due to inflammatory cells and cytokines entering the aqueous humour.

Topical non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are commonly used to treat non-infectious ocular inflammation after ophthalmic surgery. As a result, NSAIDs appear to be potentially useful drugs for cataract surgery. [2]

The U.S Food and Drug Administration has approved four ophthalmic NSAIDs to treat postoperative ocular inflammation followed by cataract surgery: bromfenac sodium, diclofenac sodium, Ketorolac tromethamine, and nepafenac.[3] The first approved NSAID for treating anterior chamber inflammation during cataract surgical treatment is bromfenac ophthalmic solution. Bromfenac is a more potent drug than other drugs for treating ocular inflammation. [4]

The drug-loaded eye drop is easy to use. However, it has the inherent disadvantage that most medication is almost immediately diluted away in the tear film when the eye drops are introduced into the cul-de-sac and quickly exhausted from the precorneal cavity's constant tear flow. This process occurs more intensively in swollen eyes than in normal eyes and lachrymal-nasal drainage. [5,6] To avoid the previously stated side effects and increase the drug's effectiveness, a novel approach of an ocular insert that increases the drug's contact time in the eye should be chosen, thus improving patient compliance by increasing bioavailability and reducing frequent administration. [7]

Ophthalmic inserts are skinny discs of polymeric substances that fit into the upper or lower conjunctiva sac. They have compensations over the conventional dosage forms and possess amplified ocular residence, discharge the drugs at a slow and consistent momentum, are capable of delivering precise dosing, lack preservatives, have augmented shelf life, and reduced systemic incorporation. [8]

Our research intended to fabricate bromfenac sodium ocular inserts to amplify the contact time and offer a controlled release model that could advance patient compliance, cut dosing frequency, and attain superior curative usefulness.


rhythm never affected the subject matter as such. The same word will not always allow identical rendering in English. Thus, akhbdr does indeed mean a certain type of tradition, but when a poet is described as rdwiyat bi'l-ash'dr wa'l-akhbdr, what is meant is that he is a transmitter of poems and tales (i.e. frequently the incidents connected with these poems) and not a quoter of poetry and traditions. To indulge professional pedantry and list peccadilloes would serve no purpose beyond demonstrating the large amount of time the reviewer has given to Dr Dodge's work. It would in fact be impossible to arrive at an adequate tabulation of praise and blame because it is precisely one of the merits of Dr Dodge's translation that he has utilized a large quantity of unpublished pages of the original work, pages not contained in the manuscript sources of Fliigel. But this very fact makes the reader who is reduced to compare the Fliigel text frequently uncertain as to whether the cause of what to him seems a deviation is in a difference of the manuscript tradition or in a minor misunderstanding. Withal, a very few suggestions may yet be put down. P. 186 (Fliigel 85/27): hdfiz, not 'memorizer of traditions' but 'one who knows the Koran by heart'. P. 200: not Sahib as-sir but Sahib as-siyar, 'author of the biographies'. P. 265 (Fliigel 121/10): not 'call me, leave me alone, tranquil, that my fate might come slowly' but 'let my death come in tranquility'. P. 266 (Fliigel 121/21): not 'except on each day that we are fasting' but 'except on any day when you are seen fasting'. P. 311 (Fliigel 141 ult.): not 'Passion I plucked from her as a child/and her love did not cease in strength to grow and increase' but' I was caught in love for her as a child/ and to this day my love to her has not ceased to grow and increase'. P. 583 (Fliigel 243): In the context haiba is 'awe' rather than 'fear'. Hasan ashshamd'il: not 'good qualities' but something like 'attractive personality or character'. P. 584: the director of the Bait al-Hikma was Salm (as the Arabic text has it), not Salman. P. 590 (Fliigel 245): none of the Arab variant readings allows the vocalization Pythagorus instead of Pythagoras. P. 595 (Fliigel 247/4): the beginning of Aristotle's epistle to politics is not 'As for wondering about your good qualities, the evidences for them have become dissipated, they are out-of-date, forgotten, no longer new or causing astonishment' but 'As for admiration of your virtues, its incessant recurrence has dissipated it, (that feeling) has become like an old, familiar thing, not like something new that excites wonder.' A word must be said of the attractive design of the volumes and the readability of the type fonts chosen. G. E. VON GRUNEBAUM University of California, Los Angeles


Abstract This manuscript summarizes the presentations of an international panel of experts, representing France, Hungary, India, South Africa, and the United States, on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD is culturally universal but probably heterogeneous. New data presented concern a follow-up study from a joint Yale-Brown clinical project; a prevalence study in Hungary; a molecular genetics study from South Africa; a comorbidity study from India; a clinical study from Paris comparing OCD with subclinical OCD; a discussion of compulsive buying as a cross-cultural phenomenon; and survey results showing the impact of OCD on quality of life and economic variables. A roundtable discussion led to a consensus that researchers must continue to: (1) investigate the prevalence of OCD in non Western samples and in less developed countries; (2) collect clinical data on OCD in child and adolescent samples, as well as in off-spring of adults with OCD; (3) refine the concept of age of onset; (4) study the impact of OCD on quality of life and the economy; (5) investigate the validity of the obsessive-compulsive spectrum in epidemiologic and clinical samples and develop appropriate instruments for its assessment; (6) study personality disorder and how it affects treatment response, and examine its prevalence in epidemiologic samples; (7) explore the concept of OCD heterogeneity, which may reflect differing etiologies but may also suggest differential treatment strategies; (8) conduct follow-up studies, particularly now that effective treatments may alter course of illness; and, finally, (9) investigate treatment response and whether certain subtypes demand unique approaches.


UBC was recently awarded an NSERC Chair in Design Engineering (CDEN). The focus of this chair is addressing the problem of 'disciplinary silos' in engineering education, primarily through enhancing cross-departmental and cross-faculty initiatives. Our principal initiative is a multidisciplinary senior design course which will bring together engineers from different departments in a year-long project sponsored by external clients. We will also establish a new building – the $6.6M Wayne and William White Engineering Design Centre – which will serve as the focal point for faculty-wide design activities.


Abstract : Joint Force Commanders have shown a keen interest in Time-Sensitive Targets (TST) and the process used to attack them. Determining how best to provide assets in order to hold TST's at risk has become a source of disagreement among and within services. Yet, discussion most often remains focused at the operational-tactical level, especially on C4ISR equipment and links between them. The targeting process already includes specific venues appropriate to a higher-level examination of the JFC's intent with regards to the threat and opportunities presented by TST. The Joint Targeting Coordination Board is one such venue. There, the AOC's Strategy Division can solicit the JFC's TST guidance and present options for providing assets for use against TST. The primary methods will either be apportioning dedicated assets to TST or utilizing clear priorities for diverting assets already planned against other targets. A number of key questions must be answered and then presented to the forces in an easily-understandable manner. The Air Operations Directive (AOD) provides such a vehicle, if the JFC's answers are included within it.